Bulbs for Mediterranean Gardens-RIP

Dear All,
I really liked it when Diane wrote about the things she had tried in the
ground in her garden that didn't survive so I am going to write about the
bulbs that I have tried in my coastal garden that are no longer alive or if
they are alive I haven't seen them lately or they don't bloom.
In my Stockton garden where it was hotter in summer and slightly colder in
winter and certainly much dryer and where I had clay soil and bulbs planted
in raised perennial beds and ground covers I watered regularly I grew a
number of things that I loved that don't grow here. I had Tigridia come
back year after year and Ranunculus and many different Narcissus.
There are a few Narcissus that bloom for me here, but I suspect my garden
just isn't sunny enough. I brought Tigridia with me and it bloomed the
first year we were here and has never been seen since. The same for
ranunuculus. I have occasionally seen the latter in gardens here, but never
the second year. So maybe it is our excessively wet winters. My
father-in-law grew wonderful ranunculus in his San Francisco pure sand
garden. Temperatures were similar to mine, but rainfall significantly less.
His biggest weeds there were Ornithogalum umbellatum and Oxalis pes-caprae.
He also grew a yellow Alstroemeria that bloomed each year. I have planted
quite a few Alstroemerias and most are gone and they seldom bloomed. But a
few keep turning up here and there which puzzles me. Where do they come
from if I didn't have blooms so therefore no seed.
One cultivar that I had in a very large wooden container eventually
expanded to such a degree that the boards were coming apart. I emptied it
out, found an old Herbertia that told how to divide them and repotted. Some
of the left overs I just dumped on the ground and left. Eventually I
disposed of them on the other side of my fence which is land that belongs
to the water company. I was making a brush pile there and one day saw on
the very top of this tall pile that there were Alstroemeria blooms. The
tubers had survived and a stalk had made its way through the pile. It
bloomed well until the deer eventually found it. Now at least three years
and maybe more later I have an ever increasing clump of Alstroemeria where
I dumped those tubers I didn't want on my side of the fence. I made a bed
there and added soil and I don't remember leaving any tubers there. No sign
of life for years and then...So my experience with Alstroemeria has been
that if I try to grow it in the ground I can't, but if I mistreat it I can.
Many Watsonias are weedy in my area. We joke about it because the community
to the south, The Sea Ranch, only allows native plants, but there are
Watsonias, Narcissus, Amaryllis belladonna, and Zantedeschia aethiopica
planted that are survivors that can be seen in common areas where they
aren't supposed to be. I have planted a lot of Watsonia coccinea in the
ground. One lasted three years before disappearing, but mostly they don't
come back. Watsonia pillansii was a reliable bloomer for Andrew Wilson in
his garden in San Diego, but bloomed every 5-6 years here so I took it out.
I have a number however of some of the shorter species that may be too
happy in one of my raised beds.
I never saw Habranthus tubispathus again after it went in the ground. Many
Crocus have lasted 0 to one season. I planted Gloriosa superba in the
ground when Rachel said she could grow it in Cape Town but it never came
up. Neither did Rhodophiala bifida, Arthropodium milleflorum, the only
Colchicum I ever tried or Bulbinella nutans. Now I didn't realize when I
planted the latter that it was going to be in the path the dog took to
chase the neighbor's cat that used to tantalize the dog since it was safely
protected by the deer fence so that could be the explanation for that one.
Alliums and Calochortus I have tried are not successful (Allium uniflorum
and Calochortus vestae are exceptions.)
Cyclamen coum and C. hederfolium are producing leaves but not flowers.
Dichelostemma congestum only lasted a couple of years, but it was planted
where the deer could get it so I need to try it again. Hermodactylus
tuberosus bloomed once, but I suspect needs more heat and more sun and I
haven't seen it lately. Some of the Ixia species I have tried have not
returned and Kniphofias (summer rainfall species) aren't very happy either.
Ixia hybrids are weedy however so score one for hybrid vigor. I have one
Albuca nelsonii. It is growing where I water weekly in summer but near a
Coast Redwood so probably isn't getting enough water. It bloomed once and
hasn't died but hasn't bloomed again and is staying small. I have Nerines
in the ground and most have never bloomed. I planted out a number of
Leucocorynes once and they were beautiful but never came back. Moraea
comptonii and M. minor were short lived showing that not all Homeria types
are weeds. Muscari grew and returned for me in Stockton, but mostly has
dwindled here. I have a few growing with succulents under a tree in a
hollow log that I water occasionally in summer that seem to be surviving.
Ornithogalum arabicum both here and in Stockton lasted only a year or two.
Rhodohypoxis was short lived in the ground (too wet in winter or too dry in
summer or both.) Occasionally I see a bloom from a species Tulipa but most
of them aren't doing well.
I am eager to try some of the things Jane says work for her since she has
wet winters too. The other thing I am doing is digging a hole and then
putting a pot in the ground. Then I nest another pot in that pot and have
the illusion that something is part of my garden that can be changed easily
summer and winter. I am trying to remember to water the Eucomis that I
finally got to bloom that way. I tried those in the ground too. They came
back for a few years but never bloomed.
So my experience has been that you have to not only think genus, but
species as well. I try to be philosophical about the deaths. I've run out
of room long ago so I am always looking for a new place to plant. Perhaps
those Chasmanthes (bicolor, floribunda, floribunda duckittii) need to make
room for something else. They have huge leaves and ever expanding corms,
but no flowers.
I'd love to hear from some of our members from Australia from Mediterranean
areas and some of those members from California who live in the hot valleys
since your experiences will no doubt be very different than some of us who
live closer to the ocean.
Mary Sue
Mary Sue Ittner
California's North Coast
Wet mild winters with occasional frost
Dry mild summers